Mental Health Workers Prepare To Strike If Contract Demands Aren't

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June 26, 1992|By MICHAEL REMEZ; Courant Staff Writer

Workers at 19 private mental health and mental retardation agencies across the state will stage a one-day strike July 1 if they do not reach contract agreements with their employers, their union said this week.

Last week, about 1,700 members of New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, voted to start a strike on that day if necessary.

But Jerome Brown, union president, said Wednesday that the union wants to limit the walkout to one day to minimize disruption at the residential facilities, group homes and mental health centers, which serve about 1,500 clients.

Brown said that the one-day action would be followed by more-protracted walkouts starting July 8 if agreements were not reached.

"We want to avoid disrupting the lives of the people we care for, but the state and the employers must wake up to the serious crisis facing this sector," Brown said in a prepared statement.

The agencies involved get 90 percent or more of their money from the state, which has reduced allocations for the fiscal year starting July 1 by about 3 percent.

The agencies say they cannot meet union demands for salary and benefit improvements unless the state increases its allocations.

"We can't give out money we don't have," said Lars Guldager, executive director of the Connecticut Institute for the Blind. The institute runs the Oak Hill School in Hartford.

So far, the state has said it cannot afford any more.

"They are saying, `This is what we have,' " Guldager said. "That has happened in the past, too. For some reason, we were able to settle because the state, in the final round, was able to come up with a little more money."

Both sides agree the wages of private-sector workers should be brought closer to those earned by state workers doing the same tasks. A commission last year reported on the disparity and urged a three-year program to raise the wages of the private-sector workers.

But Guldager said that cannot be done without more state money.

Brown said last week that the agencies could find additional

money within their budgets to improve worker wages. The union president also called on Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. to appoint a mediator to help the two sides reach an agreement.